


Learning Names and Guessing Games

by goldenwanderer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Wordcount: 5.000-10.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2017-12-13 06:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenwanderer/pseuds/goldenwanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a visit from the Marauders to the Tonks household, Remus and little Nymphadora find a way to cheer each other up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning Names and Guessing Games

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of my first Remus/Tonks stories, originally written in October, 2007. I've considered rewriting it - my writing has improved since then, and I'd like to edit quite a few things in this piece - but I haven't done so yet.

Ten minutes before she met Remus Lupin for the first time, Nymphadora Tonks was hiding from her mother.

The Tonkses were going to have guests over at their house that afternoon, which meant that Andromeda Tonks had practically lost her mind in frustration. She was the only one in the house who seemed to notice, or care, that in only a short time, there would be visitors in the house. She had spent the entire morning, and part of the afternoon, going through each room repeatedly to clean and clean again. Even after seven years of being married to Ted Tonks, she still was not used to dealing with the mess that usually plagued the house. And their daughter, Nymphadora, was not much of a help, either. By the time that the clock showed ten minutes ‘til three, Andromeda Tonks had nearly fallen over the edge of insanity.

And now, she was looking for Nymphadora. Already this morning, the little girl had caused several accidents, including managing to spill all the pots and pans out of the cupboard onto the floor. Needless to say, Andromeda was hardly in the mood for putting up with her clumsy little girl. It hadn’t helped that Nymphadora had worn her hair blue all day – blue, for Merlin’s sake! Andromeda understood that Nymphadora had an eclectic personality, but blue? Why couldn’t she wear normal colors, like blonde or black, or even that nice soft brown that Andromeda loved so much? No, it always had to be blue, or green, or sometimes even... pink.

Dora, on the other hand, did not see what the problem was with her hair color choices. She happened to like blue very much, in fact. She liked green and purple and orange. Her favorite, however, was pink – bright, bubblegum pink. But Mummy always had her wear that boring, mousy brown color – the same color that Mummy had naturally. Mummy claimed that it looked very nice on her, but Dora thought it was much too dull. She wanted to be able to pick out her own hair colors, for a change.

Since the pots and pans incident, Dora had purposely avoided going into whatever room Mummy was cleaning. For a little while, she sat in her bedroom. Then, she went and played outside for an hour or so. But with Mummy busy working, and Daddy trying to convince Mummy that he really was working, there was nothing for her to do, no one for her to play with. So, she had wandered back and forth through various rooms – managing to cause a few more incidents on the way. As three o’clock grew closer, Andromeda was becoming more and more angry with Dora.

So, now, Dora was hiding behind the couch in the living room. It wasn’t exactly the most creative place she could possibly think of to hide, but it was one of the few places where there was absolutely nothing she could accidentally trip over – that is, unless you counted her own two feet, which were always Dora’s most common downfall. Besides being a generally secure environment, the living room had been cleaned thoroughly early that morning, and Andromeda was least likely to happen upon her daughter here. So, Dora remained hidden and tried very hard to keep quiet.

Unfortunately for Dora, however, Andromeda was not about to be hindered by hiding places. “Nymphadora, come out right now!” came Andromeda’s voice, who had only just entered the living room. “I’ve got my wand in my hand! Come out now, young lady, or I’ll have to use it!”

She did not like to think that she was actually scared of her mother’s threat, but Dora had seen what her mother could do with a wand if she got too angry. She did not want to change her hair, but hiding from her mother when she was this angry was a very bad idea. Reluctantly, Dora crawled out from her hiding place behind the couch. Evidently, Mummy had guessed where she had been hiding, because she was standing with her eyes fixed on the spot. Both of her hands were on her hips, her wand was in her right hand, and her general appearance was that of an extremely flustered, almost maniacal woman. Dora’s arms lay limp at her sides, while her eyes quickly shifted to watch the floor.

“There you are, Nymphadora” said Andromeda. Her frustration stopped her from being remotely gentle with her tone of voice. “Our guests are going to be arriving in only a few minutes, and you decide you’re going to hide behind a couch? Honestly, Nymphadora, where did you learn this behavior?” She paused momentarily to take a breath, but did not intend to have her question answered before she started in again. “And just look at the state you’re in! Your brand-new dress – didn’t I tell you this morning to be careful in this dress? Oh, why do I bother – of course you wouldn’t be careful in this dress, you’re not careful in anything!”

“I’m sorry - ”

“And your hair – what have I always said about your hair? What did I tell you to do with it before our guests arrived, hmm?” interrupted Andromeda, now glaring at Dora, full of rage.

“I’m supposed to leave it long and brown, like normal,” admitted Dora, feeling even smaller than usual. With a small grimace, her hair instantly grew a few inches and turned to the light brown color that she despised. She felt the strange sensation she got whenever she morphed back to normal – she had never mentioned that feeling to her mother.

“That’s better,” shouted Andromeda. “Now, go off and change that dress before I – I – oh, I have to go and check the kitchen again, or else your father’ll put it in a right state. And don’t touch anything, Nymphadora, do you understand?”

“Yes, Mum,” muttered Dora. She rubbed one of her hands across her face as she felt tears starting to form. Andromeda turned and stormed out of the room, still muttering and complaining.

After her mother had left, Nymphadora walked slowly and quietly to her bedroom. If it was any sign of things, she didn’t trip over a single solitary object as she went to change into another dress. It seemed that her feet had temporarily replaced her face in terms of remaining on the ground.

Dora’s bedroom was the only room in the house that hadn’t been cleaned and combed over by Andromeda in her frenzy. She hadn’t even bothered to try and sort through the mess that would inevitably return by the end of the day. Normally, the mess helped Dora feel better whenever she was sad or angry. But right then, even the bright pink walls didn’t have an uplifting effect on her. It seemed that her mother’s negativity had gotten to her, at last. She collapsed on her bed with a small whimper of sadness. It was only five minutes later, when her mother yelled to her to hurry up, that she remembered to change her dress.

* * *

“Remind me, Padfoot, why we are going to visit your cousin today,” James inquired.

Remus Lupin and his three closest friends – James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew – were walking along a street in a small Muggle village. They were all dressed in what they thought looked like Muggle clothes. Remus had put on the nicest Muggle-style clothes that he owned. Despite his efforts, however, his outfit still looked shabbier than any of his friends’ clothes. He hoped it wouldn’t matter, though. They were going to visit some of Sirius’ family, and he hadn’t bothered to wear anything extra special for the occasion. Then again, Remus guessed that Sirius wasn’t used to the idea of visiting family members that he actually cared for.

“What d’you mean by that, Prongs?” asked Sirius. “You’ve been looking forward to meeting dear Andromeda for weeks now.”

“I think the emphasis was supposed to be on the word ‘today’, Padfoot,” said Remus, who was even more subdued than usual. He had, of course, caught on to the meaning of James’ words the moment he said them. Ever since they had left Hogwarts that year, James had been the only one who ever bothered to keep up with the lunar calendar. Sirius couldn’t be bothered to do so any more, since they no longer had the ‘pleasure’ of roaming around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade every month.

“Still haven’t got a clue what you mean, Prongs, even with Moony’s ‘helpful’ hints,” Sirius admitted.

“Last night was full moon,” Peter answered quickly, springing forward slightly to catch up with his friends. “Wasn’t it, Moony?” He looked at Remus, who didn’t show any sign that he had heard him. He was surprised, actually, that Peter knew the answer. Either he had paid attention to the calendar, which was unlikely, or he had been clever enough to guess what James was insinuating, which was even more unlikely.

“Good work, Wormtail, you’ve caught on,” said James approvingly. He nodded his head slightly toward Peter, who smiled with delight. Without meaning to, he dropped back away from his friends again.

“Oh, full moon, was it? Sorry about that, mate,” Sirius said apologetically as he turned to face Remus.

“It isn’t a problem, Sirius,” Remus said quietly. “You’ve had this outing planned for weeks, and I know you haven’t seen Andromeda in years – it wouldn’t be fair to ask her to reschedule on such short notice.”

“Always the gentleman, Moony,” said Prongs, laughing a bit. “Even just after a night of being a dangerous dark creature.”

Remus looked reproachfully at James and reached out his hand to whack him across the shoulder. “Sod off, Prongs,” he said, trying to sound more annoyed than he really was. He did feel very tired from the long night, but he didn’t want his friends to worry about him.

A stream of hearty laughter burst from James and Sirius at the end of this statement and gesture. Peter laughed for a moment, but he hadn’t found it quite as hilarious as the other two had. James rubbed his shoulder, pretending that Remus’ hit had really hurt, but then reached back and clapped Remus on the back, as well.

“Nicely done, Moony,” said Sirius between fits of laughter. Aside from these words, for several minutes, neither Sirius nor James could say anything at all. The noise of the laughter caused a Muggle man from one of the houses to poke his head out, wondering what was causing the sudden commotion. When he spotted the four boys, he shook his head, muttered something about ‘kids these days,’ and ducked back inside – only stopping to make sure the window was shut tight.

Remus had not thought that the gesture was funny enough to merit this kind of insane laughter. He wasn’t usually James and Sirius’s favorite form of amusement (that position had always been reserved for Severus Snape). Still, he found that it was hard to resist smiling when his friends found his so hilarious. He still felt rather tired, but his friends always had possessed the ability to cheer him up, even when they didn’t realize it.

“I don’t think you’ll have any problems behaving yourself, Moony,” said James as the laughter died down at last. “Even if you did have a furry little problem last night.”

“When has he ever had trouble behaving himself, Prongs?” asked Sirius, still trying to catch his breath after laughing so hard.

“When we’re with him, of course,” James answered. Sirius nodded seriously, while suppressing another laugh.

“That comes as a bit of a surprise,” said Remus with the tiniest hint of sarcasm. He looked over toward James and Sirius with a faint smile.

“And yet, he still spends almost all his time with us,” said Sirius. “Imagine that, Prongs.”

“I think we’ve grown on him, Padfoot,” said James. “Wouldn’t you say so, Moony?”

“Do I have to admit it?” asked Remus.

“Afraid so, Moony,” Sirius answered, turning as he walked to face Remus.

“Well, then, you’ve grown on me,” Remus said simply.

“Our work here is done,” said James, winking at Sirius. “We’ve brought Moony to the dark side.”

“That isn’t funny, James,” said Remus. He knew what James was talking about, but joking about the ‘dark side’ didn’t seem so appealing the day after the full moon.

“Sorry, Moony,” said James. “I didn’t mean to offend, or anything.”

“Are we almost there, Padfoot?” asked Peter, quickly jumping into the conversation.

“Er – yes, Wormtail, we are,” said Sirius, surprised by the sudden question. He looked around the street and, for the first time in a few minutes, noticed where they were. “Andie’s house is just up ahead, right... there.” He pointed in the direction of a small house just up ahead.

“Nice place, isn’t it?” said James.

“It certainly looks that way,” said Remus, who was very glad of the change in subject. He didn’t like having arguments with any of his friends. It made his feel as though his friendships were threatened. “Have you ever visited before, Sirius?”

“No, I haven’t, Moony,” Sirius answered. “Andie’s never invited me over before.”

“Nice of her, eh, Padfoot?” asked James.

“To quote Mr. Moony: ‘sod off, Prongs’,” said Sirius, shoving James slightly. “Andie’s got enough on her mind to worry about the four of us.”

“Like what, Padfoot?”

“Well, I suppose not belonging to the family any more would be hard on anyone. They weren’t exactly kind about it, if you know what I mean,” said Sirius. “I haven’t met her husband, Ted, since my part of the family hasn’t ever liked Muggle-borns, either.”

“No surprises there,” said James seriously.

“Anyway, she’s also got a little kid now, and that’s reason enough to keep us away from the house,” Sirius continued. “If I had a little kid, I wouldn’t want the four of us just dropping by every now and then.”

“Yeah, we’d be too influential, wouldn’t you say, Padfoot?” said James.

“Definitely, Prongs,” Sirius replied. “I’d be worried for the child’s sanity, you know.”

“Well, I’m sure that the two of you can control yourselves enough to make the visit pleasant,” said Remus.

“Of course we can, Moony,” said James. “We’ll be perfectly respectable gentlemen.” He faked a bow as they walked, and Sirius let out another howl of laughter. Remus chuckled in amusement, partially because he knew that behaving like perfectly respectable gentlemen would be a new and challenging task for both James and Sirius.

It was at that moment that they arrived at the path that led to the door of the house they intended to visit. Full of laughter, they stumbled up the path and approached the doorway. After taking a moment to calm down, Sirius lifted his hand and knocked.

* * *

“Andromeda, they’re here!”

“Merlin’s – I’ll be right there, Ted! And greet them, if you please!”

“Right, Dromeda!”

Nymphadora could hear the sound of the front door opening as she poked her head out of her bedroom. She could hear her mother scrambling to fix her own appearance, which she had failed to do earlier in her efforts to fix up the house. She could hear her father greeting the guests and inviting them inside. Normally, Nymphadora would have run straight out to greet the visitors, but she was still feeling rather put out after the fight with her mother. So, when she left her room, it was much slower than her usual walk.

“... and here’s the living room, boys,” said her father’s voice from the living room. “You can all sit down, if you like. Andromeda’ll be right in.”

Nymphadora stopped when she reached the door to the living room. She leaned her head so that she could see inside without being noticed by anyone. She could see her dad standing in the middle of the room, with four big boys sitting on the couches around him. She couldn’t see them very well from where she was standing, but she knew they were there.

“Nymphadora, what are you doing?” She looked up to see her mother standing behind her, looking as though she had very hurriedly tried to make herself look presentable. “Get in there – we need to meet our guests.” Andromeda walked around her daughter and entered the living room.

Nymphadora followed her mother after a momentary pause. She moved automatically to stand next to her dad, who put his arm around her shoulder without realizing it. Nymphadora looked around at the boys, who were now moving to stand up out of respect.

“Ah, boys, this is my wife, Andromeda,” said Ted, indicating her mother, who stood on his other side. “You might remember her a bit, Sirius,” he added.

“It’s good to see you again, Andie,” said Sirius, who moved forward instinctively. Nymphadora’s eyes moved from her mother to the boy and back again. A slight pause followed his words, and then he threw his arms around her, as though he was greeting an old friend after a long separation.

“The same to you, Sirius,” her mother responded. She pulled away from the hug, and Nymphadora could see that she was beaming. “You look wonderful – have things been going well?”

“Splendid,” said Sirius. “And you – you look absolutely stunning. If you weren’t already taken – or my cousin – I’d be tempted to ask you for a date.”

Andromeda laughed, unable to say much of anything. Ted put his arms around his wife, laughing along with her. “You’d have to come through me, of course.”

“Then I give up,” said Sirius. “Anyway, I ought to introduce my mates, now, or they’ll come after me later. This here’s James Potter,” (he indicated James), “Peter Pettigrew,” (he pointed at Peter), “and Remus Lupin.”

Each of the boys stepped forward to greet Ted and Andromeda in turn. Then, Ted said, “It’s wonderful to meet all of you, of course. And this – this is our little girl, Nymphadora.” He put his hand behind Nymphadora in attempts to urge her forward.

Nymphadora did not really want to meet any of the boys, but each of them had turned to look at her. “Hello,” she muttered. She quickly turned to her father. “Don’t call me Nymphadora, Daddy. I like just ‘Dora’,” she said in a low whisper. She wanted the boys to hear her, but she wasn’t so sure she could say it to Mummy.

“Hello, Dora,” said Sirius, who stepped forward to shake her hand. “Don’t you look stunning?”

Sirius’ words were able to coax a small smile out of the little girl, as well as a set of pink cheeks and a brief loss for words.

“How old are you, Dora?” asked James as he walked up to shake her hand, too.

“Five,” she said quietly, holding up one hand and showing him five fingers.

“Wow, five’s a pretty big number,” he told her. “Very grown-up, I’d say.”

She smiled again, wider this time, and then she was greeted by Peter, who said hardly anything at all. Then, the last boy, Remus, stepped up to greet her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nymphadora,” he said formally, extending his hand to her graciously.

“Don’t call me Nymphadora,” she repeated defiantly. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“Why not?” he asked as she took his hand and shook it. “I think it’s a lovely name. It seems to fit you perfectly.”

“I like just ‘Dora,’” she said. “Daddy likes to call me that.” She didn’t dare mention that her mother was the only person who ever called her ‘Nymphadora,’ since Mummy was standing right there, a few steps away.

Remus didn’t argue out loud, but Dora could tell by his expression that he wasn’t going to stop calling her ‘Nymphadora’ at all. She glared at him again. She wasn’t really sure she liked this boy at all.

“Well, now that we’ve met the family,” Sirius interrupted, “what shall we do next? I heard you enjoy Quidditch, Ted. Fancy a match?”

“I don’t know as that’ll work,” said Ted.

“Why not?” asked Sirius. “If you haven’t got a place to play around here, there are some great spots that we know of – we could side-along you there.”

“That’s not the problem,” said Ted. “It’s the numbers I’m worried about.”

“You boys go ahead and play,” said Andromeda. She looked delighted at the thought of having the boys out of the house for another few hours. “I’ve got some things to finish up around here.”

“And I don’t think Dora will want to play – not with us, anyway,” said Ted. He didn’t mention that Andromeda would never let their clumsy five-year-old girl play Quidditch with a bunch of teenage boys. “That would make it... three-on-two.”

“I can solve that little dilemma,” said Remus. “I’m not feeling up to playing Quidditch today. I’m feeling a bit... under the weather, at the moment.” Then, turning to Dora and grinning, he added, “Besides, if this charming young lady won’t be playing, she’ll need something to do. Unless she’ll be helping her mother, of course.”

“No,” Andromeda said hastily. “No, no, I won’t need any help.” She didn’t look down at Dora. “In fact, Nymphadora will be just fine with you for a while, Remus, if you lot really want to play a bit of Quidditch.” She looked pleadingly over at her husband.

“Right then,” said James. “Two-a-side it is. I’ll play with Ted, and Peter can play with Sirius. We’ll have a Chaser and a Beater each.”

“D’you have a place we can play, Ted?” asked Sirius, as he, James, Peter, and Ted followed each other out of the living room. “You’ll have to show us...”

Andromeda turned to look at Remus. “Remus, do you mind keeping an eye on Nymphadora for a little while? I’ve got dinner to finish, and -”

“Don’t worry about a thing, Andromeda,” Remus interrupted. “I won’t lose her.”

Andromeda looked as though she was about to argue, but she ended up saying nothing. Instead, she turned around again and left the room. Remus and Dora didn’t move until they heard Andromeda moving around in the kitchen.

After a quick glance up at Remus, Dora marched over and collapsed onto the couch. She folded her arms across her chest and stared up at Remus, who hadn’t moved from the center of the room. She was not happy about this at all. She liked those other boys – Sirius and James, she thought their names were – but she ended up having this one as a playmate – the one who called her ‘Nymphadora,’ and thought it was pretty.

“So, Miss Nymphadora, what would you like to do?” asked Remus.

“Nothing,” said Dora. “I don’t want to play with _you_.”

Remus chuckled slightly and smiled at her. He raised his eyebrows and said, “Oh, is that so?”

“Yes,” Dora said defiantly.

“All right, then,” said Remus. He moved to the other side of the room and sat down on the couch. “If you change your mind, let me know.” He pulled out a book from his jacket, opened to near the middle, and began to read.

Dora didn’t respond. She really did not want to say anything, or do anything, or, most importantly, play a game with this boy. For several minutes, she tried very, very hard not to move. She kept her arms folded tightly across her chest, and tried to stare straight ahead at the wall on the other side of the room. But, Dora was not a very calm child, and sitting still for so long was entirely too difficult for her. Every few minutes, her eyes wandered over to the couch where Remus was sitting. She would watch him for a moment, but then his eyes would look up and find hers, and she would quickly turn her eyes back to the wall straight ahead.

Not only was sitting still rather difficult to do, but it was very boring, too. Dora really did want to do something, because, after all, she was only five years old, and loved to run and play. So, even though she really did not like this boy, Remus, the temptation to play a game with him was too strong.

“Remus,” she finally whispered, not wanting to admit defeat. “Remus...”

Remus looked up from his book, as though he had been expecting this, and asked politely, “Yes, Nymphadora?”

“Don’t call me Nymphadora,” she answered immediately. “Will you – will you play with me?”

“Certainly, if you have a game in mind,” said Remus.

“Well,” said Dora, thinking. She unfolded her arms and leaned forward on the couch. Then, she leaped up and scurried toward him. “I’ve got the perfect game,” she said quickly, a smile now starting to spread across her face.

“Do you want to tell me?”

“Yes, of course,” said Dora, putting her hands on her hips. “I have to tell you, or you won’t know, silly.”

Remus laughed. “Go on, then. What is this _perfect_ game?”

Dora smiled brightly and removed her hands from her hips again. “Well, you’ve got to turn around, and when I tell you to, guess a color. Okay?”

Remus was a bit confused, but he wasn’t about to argue with Dora, so he said, “Okay, then. So, I turn around first, right?”

Dora nodded, and Remus put down his book and turned around to face the back of the couch. He didn’t sit that way for long, though, before he heard Dora say, “Guess a color!”

“Er – blue,” said Remus. When there was no reply, he continued, “Can I turn around now?”

“Turn around,” said Dora. Remus turned his head around slowly, and immediately, a look of shock came over his face.

Her hair was _blue_.

Dora grinned as Remus stared at her hair in surprise. She didn’t remember that she hadn’t told anyone about her powers yet. Instead, she was amazed about something else.

“You guessed right,” she said brightly. “Daddy’s never gotten it right on the first try – never ever.”

“How – did – you – do – that?” asked Remus slowly, as though he hadn’t heard what she said. “I – I didn’t know you could do magic already.”

“I can’t – not really,” said Dora, thinking this was the most obvious thing in the world. But then, she remembered something her dad had told her once. He had said that what she could do was not common, and that most people needed to be told before they could understand. “I’m a – a – something that starts with ‘m’...” Her words faded away as she tried to remember the word. “Oh, I remember – I’m a Metamorphmagus – or something like that.”

“What does that mean?” asked Remus. He felt rather silly knowing less about something magical than a five-year-old.

“I can change what I look like whenever I want to – unless Mummy says I can’t,” said Dora. “Mummy made me wear my brown hair today, since we had visitors coming.”

“So – so you can change your appearance whenever you like?”

Dora nodded. “I couldn’t control it when I was a baby, though. Mummy says my hair changed all the time. Now I’m five, and I can change it by myself.”

“I’m very impressed,” said Remus. “That’s amazing, it really is.”

Dora didn’t think that it was all that impressive at all, since she had been able to do it all her life. But when he said it, she smiled anyway.

“Now, turn around, guess again,” said Dora, taking a more serious tone. “Go on, turn around.”

Remus obeyed, and a few seconds later, he was playing the guessing game again. Dora was surprised at how well he did at this game. It usually took him a few guesses to get the color right, but he always managed to get it in the end. And he certainly seemed better at this than Daddy, who always took at least three or four guesses before even coming close to the right answer. With every change in color, Dora’s smile grew wider and wider.

* * *

“Guess again, Remus!”

“Green?”

“Nope, guess again!”

“Um... red?”

“Turn around!”

Remus knew that this meant he had successfully guessed the right color, and that Dora was waiting for him to look and affirm that he was right. Sure enough, when he turned around, the little girl’s hair had turned bright red, but her eyes were shining just as much as ever.

“That looks very nice, Dora,” he said. “How many guesses was that?”

Dora held up her fingers and began to count off the guesses. “Um... six!” she squealed. “You did bad that time, Remus.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to pick a normal color,” said Remus. “You did blue, green, purple, pink, orange, bright yellow – practically all colors except those naturally occurring in people.”

Dora was slightly confused by his choice of words, particularly at the end of his sentence. But it was true that she liked to change her hair to bright colors. Those were her favorites, even though Mummy didn’t like any of them.

“Do you like the other colors?” asked Dora.

“I do,” said Remus. “But you look nice in any color.”

Dora grinned and turned away, blushing. When she looked back up at him, for the first time, she changed her hair color while he was facing her. It turned the brightest shade of pink she had ever used.

“I like this color the best,” she said.

“I like that color, too,” said Remus, “especially because you like it.”

“What’s going on in here?” a voice suddenly cut into their conversation. “Nymphadora! What – on – _earth_ – are you doing? Why is your hair _pink_?”

“She was playing a game with me, Andromeda,” said Remus, before Dora had the chance to say anything. “She was just showing me the wide range of colors she can use in her hair.”

Dora nodded in agreement, but Andromeda didn’t seem convinced. She glared at Dora. “I thought I told you to keep your hair brown while our visitors were here! Do you not know how to listen to me?”

“Sorry, Mummy,” was all Dora could say. Her smile had disappeared, and her pink hair faded to brown again. She looked down at the floor because she could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

“Let her be, Andromeda,” said Remus. “She didn’t even want to play with me at first. She’s just trying to be a little girl.”

Dora stared at Remus. This boy was standing up to her _mother_. She had never seen anyone stand up to Mummy like this. Daddy didn’t usually even stand up to Mummy like this.

Andromeda was staring at Remus, too. Like Nymphadora, she was amazed at his bold words. For a moment, she stood, stunned and speechless, staring at Remus. Then, with a slightly defeated voice, she said, “Yes, indeed – dinner will be ready in a few minutes, when the boys come back in...” Then, as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone again.

Dora continued to stare at Remus. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Not only had he just confronted her mother, but he had actually _won_. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Remus turned to look down at her.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Nobody’s ever said stuff like that to Mummy,” said Dora. “Not even Daddy. That was really brave.”

Remus smiled. “Thank you, Nymphadora, that’s sweet of you to say,” he said.

“Don’t call me Nymphadora,” she said. She tried to glare at him, but because of the big smile on her face, she couldn’t do it.

“Nymphadora! Remus! Come to dinner!” Andromeda’s shouts came in from the kitchen. They could also hear several loud voices coming in through the door. The other boys had returned from the match.

“Well, Dora, should we go to dinner?” asked Remus, looking down at the little girl with a smile.

“Sure, Remus,” said Dora.

Remus stood up and began to walk slowly toward the entrance of the living room. Dora, however, stayed behind for a moment.

“Remus?” she called quietly. Remus turned around to look at her.

“Yes, Nymphadora?”

“I’m glad I got to play with you today. I like you,” she said. “Even if you always call me Nymphadora.”

She walked up to Remus and slipped her hand into his. Then, together, they walked out of the room on their way to the kitchen.


End file.
